"I kissed a girl and i liked it...."

Katy Perry’s song is catchy; but just because she sings about kissing a girl doesn’t mean that she is a lesbian, instead the song implies she is merely a girl having fun. Hamilton’s article touches on the subject of homophobia exhibited by females and how it works to reinforce gender norms. Hamilton explains that women act homophobic by creating a “social distance” from lesbians so their own femininity won’t be questioned. Women create this distance by ultimately avoiding and ignoring the lesbians, which consequently creates a “struggle to make their (lesbians) sexuality visible”. Homophobia among women only emphasizes the oppression of masculinity over acts of femininity; women keep quiet and distant from lesbians, and lesbians become oppressed because they cannot fully express their true sexuality. Homophobic men use violent actions and words against gays, but women are suppressed to ignore lesbians and instead put on a heterosexual “lesbian” show for men’s entertainment. Through it all, the girl-on-girl action is made okay as long as the girls are straight, probably drunk, and putting on a show to fulfill men’s desire. Of course, we see this girl-on-girl action everywhere, in clubs or on T.V., as long as two girls kiss, they are assumed to be heterosexual and girls having fun.

Hamilton’s observations about partiers and sorority girls revealed that lesbians were indeed marginalized by the “hot, blonde, tan” girls who make it hard for lesbians to openly express their sexuality. Again, this shows the submissive behavior women express that shun the acceptance of any possible lesbian activity, because that is how men remain superior and the only ones with masculine traits. As the article mentions, women do not hate lesbians because of their sexuality; instead, they point out certain aspects of their personality that they do not accept. This greatly differs from the homophobic actions of men; men are violent against gays probably to assert their masculinity and power, but women deal with gays in a more passive manner. Personally, I have no problem with lesbian behavior and I would never call anyone out for being a lesbian. I think part of this is because we are seeing these girl-on-girl encounters as more of a norm than as a quality of being a lesbian. The girl-on-girl action has become extremely sexualized primarily in a man’s point of view, so girls think it is fun to drink and kiss their girlfriends in pursuit of male attention. Lesbians have almost become nonexistent in the eyes of women, and that is the goal of men: to suppress women so they focus on following gender norms of femininity instead of derailing and opposing feminine gender norms to become lesbians.